It is known to transport containers such as sea containers atop flat bed tray trucks. Such trucks often include loading and unloading means for such containers, which allow the container to be unloaded to the side of the truck.
It is considered desirable to provide loading apparatus for a truck to enable a container to be loaded from, or unloaded to, the rear of the truck.
Some previous attempts at providing such loading apparatus have now been revealed by searching of patent databases.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,932 discloses a loading apparatus which enables a container to be unloaded from the rear of a truck. The arrangement shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,932 is of limited use as it requires substantial tilting of the container. This could lead to damage of goods contained within.
Soviet Union Patent Publication Number SU 1622198 discloses a loading apparatus for a truck having a long arm pivotable about a location on the truck bed. This arrangement is also of limited use as the long arm can not be stowed on the truck in such a way as to not extend substantially beyond or above the truck.
The present invention attempts to provide a means for achieving the loading and unloading of a container to the rear of a truck which overcomes, at least in part, some of the above mentioned problems.